Is PIO obliged to obtain the information from third party to provide it to the applicant?
3 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant sought the educational qualifications of a person working in Southern Railway Press. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the said person has passed class 10th.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant stated that as per office records that person has passed 10th standard but the PIO had failed to give details about his studies from 1st standard to 9th standard. He also insisted that the educational qualifications from Std.1 to Std.9 should be obtained from the person by the Public Authority if the information is not available with them and then provide to him as per provisions of section 2(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; of the RTI Act.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that according to section 2(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; of the RTI Act, ‘right to information’ means the right to information accessible under the RTI Act which is held by or is under the control of the Public Authority. The Commission rejected the appeal stating that the PIO has already provided information available with the Public Authority and no further information is required to be provided by him. The Commission however, directed the PIO to categorically inform the appellant that details of educational qualifications for standards 1 to 9 are not available in the records of the Public Authority.
Citation: Mr. Shri P Harikrishnan v. Southern Railway O/o the Chief Personnel Officer HQ Office in File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/001312
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/613
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission